Jim Gaffigan - King Baby
Rating
RIYL
Patton OswaltNick Swardson
Brian Posehn
Daniel Tosh
Release Date
03/31/2009
Label
Comedy CentralTracklist
1. Inside Voice2. Bowling
3. Lazy
4. Escalators
5. Camping
6. Bed
7. Bacon
8. Ribs & Bologna
9. Recycling
10. Deodorant
11. Circumcision
12. Almost Heaven
13. House Guest
14. Dunkin’ Donuts
15. Fast Food
16. Catsup
17. Waffle House
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By now, I’m sure everyone in North America is aware of who Jim Gaffigan is. He’s had guest appearances on That 70’s Show, Flight of the Conchords, 17 Again, and Love Guru. Gaffigan’s most notable work in television, however, stems from his recurring appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien where he would introduce new segments in his animated series of two pale superheroes (Gaffigan & O’Brien) who have the power of “paleness” and are also able to fire lasers from their nipples. That animated series is appropriately titled Pale Force. King Baby is the seventh album filed under the extremely pale comedian Jim Gaffigan and is also the follow up to 2006’s huge commercial success in Beyond The Pale. Enough history, now it’s onto the review.
There is only one word to describe King Baby, and that word is “finally”. You may very well be asking yourself ‘why is that word “finally”?’, when in actuality it’s really quite simple to understand after having listened to the disc full through at least once. This is because “finally” would be the most likely word you will be muttering angrily to yourself when this “comedy” CD/DVD finishes.
The majority of Gaffigan’s routine seems to be fairly well thought out and certainly is somewhat original – in the sense that not many comedians tend to tackle the culinary arts or being extremely pale – and for that, I’ll hand it to him for at least being more original than Dane Cook or Carlos Mecia. Despite this “originality”, however, Gaffigan’s routine incessantly tends to beat a dead horse into the ground throughout the majority of not only his act, but also his career. Much like the album title suggests, King Baby is filled with humour a first grader could easily understand, and in no way is there any sort of intellect or intrigue about Gaffigan’s delivery or style. Eventually, one begins to wonder whether or not Gaffigan is capable of producing any sort of material that isn’t some how overwrought with irritatingly mediocre, long-winded, self-deprecation, followed by his trademark annoying voice of an audience member.
When Gaffigan breaks away from his traditional “I’m pale and I like food” jokes, he shows that he can be awfully humorous. Unfortunately for him and his audience, this doesn’t last very long as he constantly reverts back to his “stronger” qualities in jokes about food. In total, Gaffigan talks about his obsession with bacon for what seems like a total of 6 minutes, and food as a whole for about 30 minutes while the remaining 36 minutes are filled with various jokes about being pale or being lazy. Gaffigan’s best jokes seem to stem from his “edgier” topics in religion, recycling, and circumcision, but again they’re short-lived and even then, they’re jokes only children would seemingly enjoy.
In all seriousness, Jim Gaffigan can be a somewhat funny guy sporadically like in his Sierra Mist spots, or cameo appearances on television, but aside from this, his recycled jokes can only lead to his comedy disc ending up in a used bin at your local record store.
--Daniel Alcinii
Comments
Minnesota
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Brooklyn, NY
i haven't listened to the CD, but i saw the DVD and thought it was pretty hilarious. Yeah, he does talk about bacon for a good 6 minutes or so, but it's real hilarious that he does!
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Minnesota
I also watched the DVD this week and found it hilarious. Gaffigan does his schtick extremely well and it's pretty damn funny. You should know by now that his focus is on food, sloth, being pale, and doing his fake audience member comments. Seriously great stuff. Don't listen to Dan's review! :-)
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Lehigh Valley, PA
I completely disagree with this. Like 100% disagree. This cd is effin' hilarious and waaaaaaaaay better than the last one. Honestly, when I listened to this I did not stop laughing the whole time. The bacon skit is the best part of the stand up, so is the camping skit. Every comedian has a "shtick" that they do and his may be that voice he always does and food jokes and it works.
Dubuque
I'm in the middle when it comes to this disc. Some of the shit he talks about is hilarious like the escalator, but some of it I just wanted to end.
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Coopersburg, PA
I only saw the comedy special but I'm assuming it has alot of the same material on it. I liked it alot more than Beyond the Pale and thought the majority of it was pretty awesome.
Fishers, Indiana
I was a little disappointed by King Baby. It was... okay. I wasn't laughing out loud at anything, but it wasn't 1.5 bad.
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Toronto, Ontario
Really? I don't think I laughed once when listening to this. I think the furthest I got was a smile or like, a small "Hah" but that was it. I just find his stuff to be extremely recycled, and very plain, but that's just me evidently.
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Baltimore, MD
I, too, haven't heard the cd, but have seen the DVD...this isn't bad, but certainly not his best work...I think his new stuff is a little too PG, or maybe even G...the cd Doin' My Time is a good one
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Coopersburg, PA
He's not one of those dudes where I'll laugh out loud at very often but the fact that he goes off on plain topics like bacon or pillows or bologna for like 5 minutes is funny in itself.